On a sunny Saturday afternoon I took a relaxing drive through the Wiltshire and Dorset countryside to arrive at Sturminster Newton's ground in plenty of time to park up before kickoff. After listening to the end of the lunchtime match on the radio I grabbed my camera and wandered up the pathway to the ground entrance. After paying £3 admission I wandered up the slope to the pitch. With a rising field and copse of trees behind the ground it was a superb setting for a football match. The ground had 1 small standing area with cover and a bench surrounded by daffodils on the right hand side. There were floodlights around the pitch although one pylon in the corner was missing lights.
I haven't seen Portland since they were in the Wessex League but glancing at the league table earlier in the day I noted that they had risen to second place in the DPL. Sturminster Newton United were rooted to the bottom with only 2 home wins this season. The two teams were warming up on the pitch before wandering off to get final preparations completed. When the sides came out it took a little while to get organised and the Portland players were left waiting as the Sturminster players continued their huddle well after the coin toss. The game finally kicked off at 3.04
Portland took the lead after 6 minutes with a fortunate goal. The ball was played forward to a striker and although he was surrounded by a couple of defenders, he managed to get a low shot off before falling to the ground. It looked as if the keeper had it covered but the ball somehow found it's way past him and in off the far post. In the 8th minute there was an accidental collision between two players right in front of the covered terrace. The force of the challenge led to the Portland player flying off the pitch and into the metal, with the handrail where I was stood bouncing back and forth after the hit. The player looked a little dazed at first but after some treatment he was able to get up and joke that the railing was more likely to be damaged than his head. The good news was that he was fine to continue.
The game was fairly open but Portland were creating most of the chances and should have extended their lead in the 14th minute when one of the players was through on goal but put his shot over the bar. Sturminster won some corners but each time elected to play a deep cross towards the back post which didn't trouble the Portland defence a great deal. Portland scored again in the 29th minute from a freekick awarded after a good run down the left wing was halted by a late tackle. The ball was whipped into the area and a Portland player flicked his head at it and diverted the ball past the keeper. Just before the half time whistle, Sturminster had a good chance to go through on the counterattack as the ball was played long to one striker with his team mate in space and only one defender between them and goal. The first touch was good but the player then slipped before he could play the pass and the chance was lost.
I had a wander around the pitch at halftime and decided to watch the game from the other side of the covered terrace as it could provide some shade from the sun. Although standing on the line an assistant is running up and down is not my first choice when taking pictures, I had noticed that this assistant was using his experience and wasn't often coming up as far as the halfway line. At times he was two or three paces onto the pitch when the play was at the other end instead but he had good awareness to step back as the ball started to move towards his half. He certainly had a sense of humour, asking the Sturminster defenders before the kickoff if they wouldn't mind staying in line as it made his job easier!
The second half was fairly similar to the first and Portland continued to dominate in the final third. In the 46th minute a good break and cross from the right was unfortunate not to find a blue shirt to head in. In the 49th minute Portland were unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty and then had the misfortune to see a shot on target deflected wide only for the officials to signal for a goal kick when the players were convinced it should be a corner. One of them took the protests a little too far and the referee had a quick word to calm him down.
Sturminster then had a good spell of play and earnt their first corner of the half. Instead of hitting another long, deep cross for the keeper to deal with they decided to play the ball short. This certainly fooled the Portland defence which gave Sturminster time to hit a cross into the box. The ball whizzed across the six yard line in front of goal and only needed a touch to knock it in but no-one was close enough to reach it. A minute later and one of their players took an early shot that went just wide before the ball was brought back for an offside.
Portland thought that they had added a third goal in the 57th minute. The ball was played through the centre of the defence for a midfielder to run onto and he kept his calm before slotting the ball past the keeper. As he wheeled away to celebrate he realised that the assistant on our side had flagged him for offside - a marginal decision that was perhaps given for a team mate being offside and interfering with play by blocking the defender's run. In the 60th minute Portland came close again - an excellent reflex save to push the ball onto the crossbar keeping the ball out - before they managed a goal seconds later. The ball came to the edge of the area and a great cross was headed past the keeper. This time he couldn't get close enough to the ball to tip it away and Portland could celebrate again.
Sturminster didn't help themselves at times. They won a rare freekick in the Portland half and one of their players tapped it to a team mate to try and catch Portland off guard. His team mate wasn't paying attention and picked the ball up, thinking that he would be taking the kick. This misunderstanding didn't last long as the referee blew his whistle and gave a freekick the other way. When the player protested after the ball went out of play, the referee firmly explained what had happened but didn't lose his cool and kept his cards in his pocket to diffuse the situation.
Portland were denied on a couple of occasions by the offside flag but finally got it right in the 80th minute. A long ball was headed over the defence and a sub ran on to the ball, took it round the goalkeeper and slotted it into the net for a 4.0 win. A very enjoyable game to watch in a perfect sunny day setting.
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